The Action Movie That Influenced Sylvie's Fighting Style In Loki

Every Marvel series to hit Disney+ thus far has brought some fresh and unique ideas to the table. "WandaVision," for example, took elements from various sitcoms over the decades, and combined them with a Lynchian twist to create a mind-bending series about grief. "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," meanwhile, was more political in nature, telling a globetrotting story that was infused with contemporary social commentary. The latest Marvel Disney+ series, "Loki," which stars Tom Hiddleston as the mischievous demigod, is arguably the most off-kilter of the bunch, and it leans heavily into Marvel's cosmic ideas, such as the Multiverse and Time Variance Authority. But if there's one thing all of these series have in common, it's that they boast plenty of thrilling action, spectacle, and memorable characters.

"Loki" incorporates quite a large number of pop culture influences into its creative palette, but one of the most surprising is an action movie from 2017 starring Charlize Theron as a spy for MI6, which just so happened to be helmed by "John Wick" alumnus David Leitch. You've probably guessed which one we're referring to, and here's how it played a role in inspiring Sylvie's fight choreography. 

In the third episode of Loki, the Asgardian trickster forges an alliance with Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), who's essentially (as far as we know, thus far) another variant of the demigod. While she's just like Loki in many ways (especially when it comes to a sense of mischievousness), there are striking differences between the pair that make them seem like totally different beings who are in no way connected. Despite being a Loki variant, Sylvie doesn't use his fighting style, for example, which was a conscious decision on the creators' part.

In an interview with CNET, Di Martino revealed that they wanted Sylvie to have a roughneck fighting style that was the polar opposite of Loki's more graceful maneuvers. "We wanted Sylvie to be a brawler," Martino noted. "We didn't want her to be too elegant in the way she fights because that's Loki's thing. He's so balletic in the way that he moves, but Sylvie is more of a street fighter." 

To get across that brawling energy, the team behind "Loki" looked outside of previous Marvel movies, and Di Martino named "Atomic Blonde" as a specific reference point. "The fight scenes in that are great," she said.

Di Martino certainly isn't alone in that opinion — the fight scenes have long been the most celebrated element of the 2017 Charlize Theron flick. For instance, while Vulture's Jada Yuan criticized much of "Atomic Blonde," she praised the action scenes — particularly the stairwell fight — for their grittiness, realistic stakes, and sheer aggressiveness. 

Sylvie and Loki make a good tag team, but it remains to be seen if they'll be able to co-exist in the long run.